Chapter 3

It didn't take long after Arthur left for things to go wrong outside the clinic.

First came the rumble of car engines. Then heavy, crowded footsteps. Then fists hammering on the door.

I cracked the blinds and looked out. Over a hundred wolves had gathered outside, holding banners, faces twisted with rage. A handful of guards in uniform stood at the front — Marcus's people, no question.

"Traitor! Get out here!"

"The Alpha has ordered you to report to the Healing Center within one hour!"

"A wolf like you doesn't belong on our territory—"

I let the blinds fall. Didn't bother responding.

Then the rocks started hitting the windows. A sharp crack, and a pane shattered. Glass scattered across the floor.

The crowd went quiet for a few seconds — then erupted even louder. Someone outside was shouting: "Alpha Marcus has made an official declaration — if the Healer who refused treatment does not surrender herself within two hours, she will be charged with treason against the pack!"

Treason. In a wolf pack, that charge meant you were stripped of all identity and protection. Anyone could do whatever they wanted to you.

Marcus. You really aren't holding back.

Someone in the crowd was playing audio from their phone on speaker. Lydia's voice, broadcasting from the Healing Center.

"Ms. Selena, I'm begging you… Leo is only six. He keeps calling for his mama, saying it hurts so much… If you'll save him, you can have my life. I'll give you anything…"

Sobbing until her voice cracked. Every word trembling.

The wolves outside got even more worked up. The cursing grew louder.

I stood in the middle of the broken glass, listening to Lydia's pitiful little performance, and my mind slammed back twenty years.

Deadfall Cliff. Wind and rain tearing through the night.

My mother — the pack's rightful Luna — cornered at the edge by Marcus and Lydia.

Lydia back then, belly just starting to show, leaning into Marcus's arms with a smile dripping with spite. "Big sister, you've lost your healing gift. You're worthless to this pack now. Marcus loves me. Why won't you just die already?"

And my so-called father, staring down the woman he'd been married to for ten years, cold as stone. "Jump. Or I'll tear you and that little bastard apart myself."

My mother turned and leapt — to save me.

That scream. I'd heard it every night for twenty years. It never faded.

For two decades, they'd stood on my mother's bones. Climbed to the top. Became the beloved Alpha and his gracious Lady, soaking up the pack's admiration, playing their little charity games.

And now they had the nerve to beg me for mercy? In front of the entire pack?

I looked down at the thin line of blood on my hand where the glass had caught me.

They wanted to see me?

Fine. I'd go. But not to save anyone. I was going to collect a debt.

I pushed open the clinic door and walked out.

A hundred pairs of eyes locked onto me at once. Insults, curses, accusations — all of it hit me like a wall. I didn't say a word. Just walked straight through the crowd, heading for the Healing Center.

Word traveled fast. I hadn't even reached the front entrance before the pack channel exploded: "The Healer came on her own!"

Everyone assumed Marcus's treason threat had broken me.

The area outside the Healing Center was packed. Pack leadership, a few old relics from the Council of Elders, rubberneckers from every corner of the territory — practically every wolf who mattered had shown up.

The second I stepped into the corridor, the chatter died for a beat. Then came back twice as loud.

Lydia was standing by the door of the healing ward. Minutes ago she'd been wailing her lungs out. Now, with tears still wet on her face, she spotted me — and the corner of her mouth twitched. Just barely.

Marcus strode out from the crowd. Black coat — the one that marked his rank as Alpha. He looked down at me the way you'd look at something stuck to the bottom of your shoe. All arrogance, with just a dusting of generosity.

"So you're Selena." His voice was ice. "Smart of you to show up. Get in there and heal Leo. Gold, inner city residency — name your price."

He glanced over at Arthur, half-hidden in the crowd, and let out a contemptuous little laugh. "I could even promote that fiancé of yours. Get him a seat on the Elder Council."

I didn't move.

I hadn't even brought a med kit.

Lydia wiped the tears off her face, and just like that, her whole demeanor shifted — imperious, nothing like the woman who'd been on her knees sobbing moments ago.

"Hurry up and get in there. Don't waste time." She looked me up and down, wrinkling her nose like she'd smelled something rotten. "Heal Leo and go back to whatever slum you crawled out of. Don't even think about using this to worm your way into our family. If anything goes wrong with him, your worthless little life won't be enough to pay for it."

Not a single person in that corridor batted an eye. To all of them, I was just a tool dragged in from the gutter.

I swept a cold look over the two of them — this polished, well-dressed couple — and let my gaze settle on Marcus.

"Alpha Marcus." My voice wasn't loud, but every wolf in that corridor heard it crystal clear.

"Twenty years of living like royalty hasn't just rotted your conscience. It's dulled your nose, too."

Dead silence. Not one wolf in the pack had ever spoken to the Alpha like that.

"How dare you!" Marcus's fury erupted. The crimson flare of an Alpha's killing intent flashed through his eyes. "You have a death wish?"

"I'm doing just fine."

I took a step forward and looked him straight in the eye.

"My mother, on the other hand — she was driven off Deadfall Cliff by the two of you. Shattered on the rocks below. They couldn't even find all her bones."

The color drained from Marcus's and Lydia's faces at the same time.

"You — who are you?!" Lydia stumbled back a step, pointing at me, shrieking.

I reached up and unclasped the suppression pendant I'd worn around my neck for as long as anyone could remember.

A wave of power rolled off me — ancient, pure, unmistakable. The aura of the Silver Moon bloodline, carried only by the true-born Luna line, generation after generation.

Every wolf in the corridor took a half-step back. Several of the older Elders flinched, their eyes going wide with disbelief.

I watched the blood drain from Marcus's face until he looked like a dead man standing.

"It's been twenty years, Father. Can't even recognize the scent of your own daughter anymore?"